Petra Ritter

Petra Ritter is a visionary leader in computational and clinical neuroscience, holding the lifelong BIH Johanna‑Quandt Chair for Brain Simulation at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin and the Berlin Institute of Health. Amedical doctor and neuroscientist trained across top institutions—including Charité, UCLA, UCSD, Mount Sinai, and Harvard Medical School—she brings a rare blend of clinical expertise and computational innovation to brain science

Prof. Ritter is the co-founder of The Virtual Brain, an open-source platform transforming clinical data (EEG, fMRI, PET) into personalized brain simulations—or "digital twins"—used globally to improve diagnosis, treatment planning, and understanding of neurological disorders like epilepsy, stroke, dementia, and neurodegeneration.

As director of the Brain Simulation Section at Charité since 2017, she leads high-impact initiatives including the Virtual Brain Cloud, EBRAINS Health Data Cloud, and the Testing & Experimentation Facility for Health AI and Robotics (TEF‑Health)—key components of Europe's health AI infrastructure with over €60 million in EU funding

Prof. Ritter's research integrates multimodal neuroimaging and computational modeling to decode brain dynamics across scales—from single neurons to whole-brain networks—and to inform precision therapies and neurosurgical planning.

In addition to her academic contributions, Prof. Ritter actively champions open science and public engagement. She has co-created immersive exhibits—a virtual brain experience at Berlin's Humboldt Forum and participatory art‑science installations—and regularly mentors the next generation of brain researchers across global workshops and masterclasses

• Fireside Chat: Trusted Research Environments (TREs) Friday, 26 September 11:20 - 11:50